


of stories, memories, and living

by ak0gare



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: F/M, Fang - Freeform, Gen, and iggy, takes place in the school, there's bad words up ahead, there's some gruesome scenes in here so be careful if those things aren't up your alley, young max
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 15:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ak0gare/pseuds/ak0gare
Summary: she was fire in the dark place he was forced to live in. she was fire that was consuming him, burning him with a feeling that he's not familiar with. the feeling of wanting to live.





	of stories, memories, and living

Waking up was the hardest thing to do. It required strength to open each eye and take in the fact that no, it wasn’t a bed that he felt underneath his body but the cold, hard concrete ground where his small cage was nailed into. Built and customized specifically for his inconvenience. Waking up also required having motivation to do so. And after being in the same place for what seemed like an eternity, it was hard to find a single glimmer of hope. It constantly made him want to give up, a barrier built around him and his heart. Suddenly, a silent demeanor was born from within him, hard glances given to the scientists who would constantly visit him with evil intentions. He was no older than the average fourth grader, and his eyes were able to pierce through and send terrible shivers down a person’s spine.

He was very much different from the other subject whose cage was only a few inches away from his. She seemed to be a ball of fire, never once was her spirit dim or even wiped away before his eyes. Constant yells escaped her throat, anger and hatred seeping into the echoing screams that never failed to make the scientists glance quickly at one another. _I’ll get out of here! I promise!_.Her wings flapping tirelessly around the arms of the scientist who would carry her off to one of the rooms, ready to experiment on her but also find what would extinguish the small kindle in her soul.

The young boy was unsure of many things, such as if he would ever get out of the place he came to know as The School, or if the man named Jeb, was really as good as he claimed to be, but the most unsure event in his life was why she decided to speak to him on a whim. They had just thrown her right back in her cage, hitting her left wing on the pummel back in. A sharp yelp escaped her mouth and she instantly went to the bars to glare at the man who had thrown her in. He kicked the cage for good measure but she hardly even flinched. Eventually, she sat down and carefully tucked in her wing, a slight wince flashing on her face. He didn’t realize it but he was looking at her, waiting to see if she was okay. Her eyes peered over at his and he felt his heart drop. She was scary, in a non-threatening way. It was scary to see how much hope and how much fire she held in one glance. It was unlike his own dark eyes, flat and tired. He was so, so tired.

“Don’t worry. I’m okay.” His face stayed entirely blank. He wasn’t really worried about her safety as much as he was about his own. She leaned back against the bars, her tattered and dirty clothes slightly more noticeable since she was close to his own cage. He stayed where he was, waiting to see if she would continue talking. That’s what he did. Waited and observed every single person. 

“Does Jeb ever take you to his office to teach you how to read,” she asked, looking over at him. He gave a small nod, hardly even noticeable if she wasn’t staring right at him. Jeb was secretly taking the young boy to a place where many books sat on shelves. _You need knowledge just as much as you need strength,_ Jeb had told him. She nodded as well, giving a small sigh. 

“I read a story about a guy with wings like us. They were made for him to escape his prison. His dad built them for him. But he told him ‘Don’t fly too close to the sun,’ since his wings were made of feathers and wax.” She stopped talking and her eyes were on her hard and rough hands, much too rough for her age. Scabs and bruises were hidden and also exposed around her entire body. Her hair was a tangled mess, streaks of brown and gold weaved into knots around her face and on her back. She looked back at him with narrowed and determined eyes.

“Screw the dad. I’ve got wings too and if they melt, I don’t care. That’s why I also have legs,” she said out loud. He couldn’t help it. He grinned. For the first time in...he can’t even remember the last time he even smiled. But this grin? Oh, it was so much. It was an honest emotion passing over his face because of what this weird girl had said. She grinned back at him, realizing something.

“Hey, you’re smiling!” she exclaimed quietly. He slowly let his lips falter back into a hard, thin line. But his eyes were unclouded this time, allowing her to see that she was being accepted by him and her stories. She didn’t stop grinning, somehow a little satisfied that she was able to talk to the boy whose cage was beside her.

 

Only a few short months passed before they realized that there was another kid around their age just like them, with wings and all. He was placed on the other side of the boy with the dark hair, now to be known as Fang, dutifully given to him by the girl who was living beside him, her name Max. Fang was quick to accept the new boy, after Max had slightly interrogated him to be a part of whatever Max and him were a part of. A survival club maybe, he wasn’t too sure. But he knew that there was more want for survival in him than there was for death. And that same fire Max had put in him, she had put in the boy with the strawberry blonde hair.

Stories filled the cold and deathly filled air, heroes and legends who would come to eventually save the world, or of events that had taken place in different parts of the world, outside of The School. Max fell in love with one story, of the first female astronaut ( _You mean someone actually went into space?_? She had exclaimed as Jeb told her the story of Sally Ride) and she took the name for herself. The boy with the strawberry blonde hair and soft blue eyes had excitedly told them of how fire came into this world, stolen from the Gods to ignite the world with light. (He had used the word ignite much more than Jeb had actually said, and Max would, of course, take that into consideration as she then began to call him Iggy.)

In the School, there was no period of happiness. And the scientists had made sure to remind them that. Iggy was taken before Max could finish her most recent story she had read, and the two small figures stared at the empty cage beside them, as he was gone a lot longer than usual. Finally, he was returned to the cage, a bandage wrapped around his head, covering his eyes. _Don’t take it off if you know what’s good for you,_ the scientist had said to him, disgust on his face. Iggy didn’t even stir when he hit the floor. Max’s heart was pounding loudly in her chest, anger already exploding into her veins. She glared at the man walking outside the prison room they had to call home.

“Iggy,” Max quietly whispered to him. He only moaned, a sad whimper escaping his lips before he panicked, quickly shooting up to sit up. His hands went for the bandage around his eyes, unwrapping it as fast he could. Max, at the same time, begged him to wait. She didn’t know what they had done to him but she knew that it was nothing good. He finally ripped it off, his blue eyes looking at her face. It was the same blue eyes that had lit with a passion as he talked of fire. Except they were covered with a white glaze, hard to notice at first glance. He blinked quickly, as if he was trying to adjust his eyes to the settings around him.

“Did...did they turn off the lights in here?” Iggy asked, a very small, small twinge of panic and hysteria in his voice. Fang looked at Max, and she placed her hand over her mouth. She cleared her throat, keeping her voice as steady as she could, although tears were already falling from the corner of her eyes. 

“No, Iggy.” Iggy was deathly quiet, too quiet for Iggy and he lowered his face into his hands. His small shoulders shook, his hair falling in front of him. Max didn’t bother to hide her cries, loud and pained, for the loss of Iggy’s eyesight. He would never see the outside, of the blue sky they had told each other in the stories, the stars that Sally Ride once flew in, or the different forms of fire that could be created from combustion. Fang just stared and stared and stared ahead of him, until spots appeared in his vision. His small hands tightened and untightened. Suddenly, he was angry. Angry that he was suffering and yet, it wasn’t enough for the scientists. They still needed more, those selfish evil monsters. They were the bad guys and Max, Iggy, and him were the good guys. Nothing was ever enough.

They were way too close. Way more than Fang could have ever considered they would go. He was sure that this was some sick joke of theirs, a prank to pull at the office called _Who could anger Fang the best?_? It had started with tests, much more intense than he had anticipated. Granted, it was most likely because he was getting much more advanced, his tolerance much longer than before. But it was still tiring and for the first time after months of hopefulness, he felt tired and unmotivated. His muscles were yelling in unending pain, harsh and sick bruises appearing on his sides from the times they had electrocuted him for giving up (many times in the last round of tests), and his face was back to the cold, dead mask he had when Max had started talking to him. She noticed it, that the small kindle inside of him was close to vanishing. And she gave them all hell when they threw him back in the cage of his, slamming his miniature prison door with violent force.  
Her words were blunt and harsh, much harsher than she had ever used. She was rattling the doors on her cage, loud and animal-like. Fire. She was a bright ball of fire, waiting to burn the entire place down. Curses spewed from her mouth to the backs of the scientists, walking away and snickering among themselves. One of the scientists lost his patience, listening to her, threatening them as if she was anything but an experiment. He walked back, unlocking the door and grabbing her by the clothing that hardly even fit her. 

“This one next,” was all he said before anyone could argue. Fang, who was lying on the floor, trying his hardest not to pass out from the pain, watched as they took her, hoping that she wouldn’t be put to the same tests he was.

And she wasn’t. She was put to tests that were meant for experiments that had reached their full potential after ten years of success and advancement. She only had a few years of successful tests up her sleeve. Fang had woken up to yelling, Jeb’s voice echoing in the small room that the three of them shared.  
“Are you all completely deranged!? She’s not just any experiment for you to torture! For God’s sakes!” When Fang had opened his eyes, Max was back in her little cage, her brown and gold wings falling limp behind her in unusual and sickening ways bones sticking in different directions. Her left eye was swollen and a disgusting purple. A long gash extended from the back of her neck and disappearing into her thin and worn clothing. She held her knees close to her chest, her arms covered in deep cuts, some already infected. But her eyes…

They were almost lifeless. They stared past the bars around her and were somewhere else. Fear was settling itself too comfortably on her face, almost welcomed.  
“Max?” Iggy whispered, unable to hear her usual voice which gave him comfort in the dark he now resided in. When she looked up, snapped out of whatever it was she was currently in, it was insanely terrifying to see what he used to constantly look like. Deflated and tired, beaten down to the ground, ready to be wiped out from existence. And she was okay with that. She looked so, so tired. Fang growled. His eyes made it’s way to the scientist who had taken her away. He let the image burn into his mind. He wasn’t going to forget him, not even for a moment. There was a smug look on his face, for he knew he would be known as the man who almost broke “Maximum Ride.” Fang’s voice was quiet and slightly lowered, however it echoed on the walls as he spoke the same words Max constantly yelled.  
“I’ll get out of here. I promise.” Each word was spoken slowly to make sure the scientist could fully understand what Fang was saying. It was a threat to job, his reputations, and more importantly, to his life. Fang may have been unsure if he would ever succeed in ruining any of the three but he was sure of one thing. He was going to live. And he would rather die than ever seeing Max so hopeless ever again. 

 

Leaders. It was the new reading topic Jeb had decided on letting them spurge on. Activists, writers, engineers, and others who lead people into the new world of their time. Leaders and their supporters, their listeners, and their go-to people. Fang was unsure of how this really related to them, but he knew one thing. He wasn’t a leader. He was a supporting column. He knew it the moment Jeb explained it to him. He accepted it the second he looked at Max as she walked back to her cage, Jeb taking her back. If she were to lead, he would one hundred percent follow her anywhere all the way. 

And with new cages next to them, each with another avian experiment like the three of them, came more stories of inspiration, another match to strike a candle that wasn’t even know to be there by the holder. They listened intently to Max’s stories, to the greek myths that fought for their freedom, to the legends that were embedded in different cultures, all with the same message. Keep fighting. And that’s what they did. All of them. From the oldest to the youngest. While they were constantly tested and zapped, they didn’t forget the flare in Max’s eyes, even in Fang’s, and in Iggy’s. Even as Jeb snuck them away from that terrible, terrible place, with their breaths caught in their chest as they came upon a house, one that resembled an E, they didn’t forget.

**Author's Note:**

> if you read this, you are amazing. no seriously, there isn't a whole lot of maximum ride stories on ao3, and i want to change that. i'm thinking of writing more (i mean, i already have but i haven't published it yet), but let me know if you want to read more. also, let me know if you want to read a story written in max's POV. (i can do either 1st person POV or 3rd person, so.) 
> 
> follow my [ tumblr](https://yukistouya.tumblr.com/) just to see what the heck i do there or maybe send me some prompts?


End file.
